My Time Among the Whites by Jennine Capó Crucet

MY TIME AMONG THE WHITES by Jennine Capó Crucet is a series of essays about the author’s Latinx experience. I have been moved by her writing in the past, particularly the difficulties of being a first generation college student which she featured in her earlier novel, Make Your Home Among Strangers. Here, she revisits some of that time and those feelings as well as writing about events like how her name was chosen and about her marriage to a white man with the difficulties of honoring both of their families’ traditions at the ceremony. Crucet also comments on the American Dream (especially as a child of Cuban immigrants), on her relationship with her father, and on wanting to be a writer and professor. These essays, which the author calls "notes from an unfinished education," will provide another perspective as we continue to work on ideas related to equity this year at school. Here are just a few examples of comments that will prompt reflection: “How many times did you see version of yourself in charge of your learning community?” and “If something feels unfair to you as a white person, it’s likely that equality is actually being achieved in that moment.” Crucet writes openly and frankly about belonging and about being viewed as different; she thereby elicits a range of emotions from humor to anger to hope. Booklist recommends MY TIME AMONG THE WHITES for teen readers, saying “Crucet's culture clash with her foreign-born parents and school experiences will resonate with young people of color.”

10/11/19 Update: Crucet's novel was assigned for Freshman classes at Georgia Southern.  Hard to believe that some students had such an extreme and negative reaction.  They need a second semester assignment - and a chance to discuss Crucet's newest work along with DiAngelo's White Fragility.

Rule Makers, Rule Breakers by Michelle Gelfand

In RULE MAKERS, RULE BREAKERS author Michelle Gelfand, an award-winning professor of psychology at the University of Maryland, builds on earlier work to explore ideas of cultural norms.  In a 2011 study, she and colleagues investigated the behaviors of some 7,000 people in more than 30 countries. In conjunction with other work, that led to her tightness vs. looseness system for classifying cultures.  For example, she argues that tightness is shown in Singapore’s strong social norms against littering or jaywalking whereas the United States would generally be much more permissive (looser) with respect to those actions.  She also writes accessibly about happiness and the quest to maximize societal well-being through a balance of tight-loose constraints. Another interesting discussion parallels recent headlines and focuses on the dilemma posed by the Internet: “we need to have loose mindsets to adapt to technology, yet we need tighter norms to regulate the destructive, normless, and fear-mongering behavior that it enables.”

RULE MAKERS, RULE BREAKERS is divided into three parts (labeled Foundations, Analysis, and Applications); plus, it contains extensive source notes (almost 40% of the text) which will contribute to its usefulness for our psychology, history and/or geography classes.